Unless you guys have been living under a rock, many of you would probably know about the ongoing European football tournament – the Euros 2020. It has been a whirlwind affair so far, highly unpredictable (just how we like it), with many surprising twists and turns that eventually left us with a surprising, yet deserving top four national football teams. As mentioned in the title above, the Euros is available for LIVE streaming on SonyLIV in India, but before you guys check out the matches, here is what you need to know about the current “Top 4 European teams”:
Italy
With a 31-game-unbeaten-streak, Italy has truly become a force to be reckoned with. Being one of the first teams to progress from the group stages, Italy has managed to beat Turkey, Switzerland, Wales, Austria and the current highest ranked National team in the World – Belgium. With only Austria giving them some surprising trouble in the Top-16 stage earlier, Italy is in a strong position to win the Euros this year. And to think, just three years ago, this national football team was in shambles with them failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup finals – which was the first time in 50 years that Italy failed to qualify for a World Cup finals.
Spain
Spain had a slightly bumpy group stage with two back-to-back draws against Sweden and Poland, before trashing Slovakia 5-0 to progress on to the knock-out phase in the tournament. Their troubles didn’t end there however, with an 8-goal thriller match against Croatia, whom they managed to beat 5-3 in extra time. They again faced a tough Switzerland side – the team which managed to beat the Tournament favourites and 2-18 World Cup Winners – France. They managed to win 3-1 in penalties, but this victory should give them some comfort. They have some tough teams to reach this stage and we expect the players and the coaching staff to be eyeing the Euros 2020 trophy – which is only two wins away.
Denmark
After a horror start to the tournament, where their best player on the pitch, Christian Eriken collapsed during their first match against Finland, Denmark has managed to do something extraordinary. We witnessed something beautiful on that day (when Eriksen collapsed), with the whole stadium cheering on Christian Eriksen. Fans, players, managers and football pundits alike came together on multiple platforms to give support to the player, his family and team and that beautiful moment will be remembered for a very long time. After an extended waiting period, the distraught Denmark team agreed to continue their first match against Finland, to whom they lost. They lost again to Belgium and it was thought that their Euros season was over, but a massive 4-1 thrashing of Russia managed to secure them second place in their group. They have then gone on to decisively beat Wales (4-0) and then Czech Republic (2-1), making them this tournament’s biggest dark horse. Their biggest challenge lies ahead of them now – England.
England
After only scoring 2 goals in their 3 group stage matches (and somehow coming out on top of their group), many people doubted England’s ability to continue forward in this tournament, especially with their highly defensive mindset and “questionable starting line-up”. However, with a decisive victory over their old rivals Germany (2-0) and an even better 4-0 score against Ukraine, they have silenced their doubters while managing to do something that only one other team has done in Euros history – becoming a team that has five clean sheets in a row in a Euros tournament (If they manage a sixth, they will set a new record). While Denmark will certainly be looking forward to a war of attrition against England, this team now has the best chance of winning the Euros, purely because of the squad depth, especially in its attacking positions. Will this be the tournament, where football is finally coming home?
The semi-finals will take place as on these dates and timings:
7th July 2021, 12:30 am
Italy vs Spain
8th July 2021, 12:30 am
England vs Denmark
The winners of these two matches will go on to face each other in the finals of this tournament, on 12th July 2021 at 12:30 am.
Check out these matches on SonyLIV, as mentioned previously.
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